First the good news...

[Brian Walker]

A good piece of digging from the Belfast Telegraph reveals more good news of the fall in fuel charges – reflecting the current global position in a notoriously volatile sector and the impact of shrinkage all round. No doubt it’s an incomplete and changing story. Let’s hope the local media keeps monitoring the situation and local business chips in with refinements and corrections when necessary.

One big question: how do these price falls affect the Executive’s proposed poverty package discussed in Stormont Watch: better late than never ? Does anybody know, even Nigel Dodds and his officials?

Quotes from the Bel Tel story..

“A straw poll of local distributors, published today in the Belfast Telegraph, shows that some companies have knocked 27% (or £110) off their prices in the last 12 weeks, to bring 900 litres down to under £300. It also emerged that home heating oil costs less here than anywhere else in the UK or Ireland.

NIE Energy also offered some cheer by implementing price cuts of 10.8%, while Phoenix Gas has reduced its tariffs by 22.1%, bringing a little relief to beleaguered families across the province.”

Meanwhile in the political stratosphere Alistair Darling has been performing a dance of the seven veils about the next stage of the UK government’s financial strategy in today’s FT. Is there to be a second bank recapitalisation? ( shudder!); a guarantee scheme ; a “ bad bank” for the toxic assets ( how many?) ; more “flexible” minimum capital limits for the banks?

Does this thinking aloud presage an admission that the current bail-out “ to rescue the banks” has actually failed or was always intended to be Stage One leading to a second tranche to kick-start the reopening of wholesale funding markets? And when will we see some action? Business's frustration must be increasing to boiling point… Or is way over their heads and fatalism is setting in?

[John McMullan]

This is indeed excellent news and your correct well done the Tele!. It's particularily good as over 70% of NI domestic heating is oil based, so the benefits of such are obvious. The Executive's package will be fun to watch, as it will be interesting to see how the £150 will be deployed. The OFMDFM Ministers have been active to ensure Minister Richie is kept in the background when handing out gifts but her department will most likely be required to manage the distribution, so we may expect interesting times. It's likely that not everyone who should get it will and there will be an associated fall out, so lets all speculate who will get blamed?

My personal disappointment is that we are missing an opportunity to develp a system of energy credits for this kind of intervention, ensuring it is better targetted than other initiatives and negotiatong bulk purchasing arrangements with oil distributors would be an interesting development but pragmaticly with the delay since September when the proposal was made makes this impossible,

[Quintin Oliver]

To be fair, however, John, I suspected that the £1,000 emergency flood payments to affected households in June 2007 and again last year - one of the more immediate and effective cross-party and cross-departmental Executive actions - would lead to endless cries of foul, as some got and some didn't, all the while claiming to have been 'wetter than their neighbour' as it were; not to mention fraud and abuse, as enthusiastic Council staff handled the payments from community centres. But I don't recall any such fallout. And you could surmise that the accuracy of DSD / Social Security Agency targetting will be pretty tight in this instance, and the administration of the cash likewise.
But the wider more strategic question you pose remains unanswered - are blanket cash payments / refunds (as in this case, or with free prescrptions, capped rates, reduced VAT etc) the best use of state resources?

[Alan Sheeran]

Darling did say that after saving the banks from imploding, the next job was to get them to lend again. I aussume this is the action he has in mind. Has anyone heard anything more of the international discussions on tackling the crunch - they were to be reporting at the end of January, which would seem to fit into Darling's schedule.

Strangely, Cameron's prescription for this ailment is to get people saving their cash, rather than spending it.

[Tim McKane]

As a mere aside - I am sure that many members of the IoD remember when central heating was a luxury, and a coal fire downstairs and a hot water bottle under your arm as you went to bed were the only forms of home heating. As it is said, one generations luxury becomes the next generations necessity. Now necessity includes a computer, a flat screen TV, a holiday abroad etc etc...

[John McMullan]

Quintin, I think you would be correct if every pensioner (as is the case in WFA) that is cold will get a payment but my undersrtanding is that the payments will follow those in receipt of pension credits, so people living next door to each other even with similar circumstances may be treated differently. Pension credit is significantly under claimed - that may make the difference in this context.

Your point about our give-away goverment is spot on - why do I need free prescriptions or even 2.5% in vat repate, the small personal benefit to me is less significant than major impact on the collective value of the measure will have public services/spending.

[Zoe Anderson]

Sorry - I did post here but appear to have deleted it. Here's what I said:

In the absence of any further information about how the payments will be made, I agree with John's concerns about Pension Credit.

Up to 51% of those entitled to it don't claim it. We also don't know whether the £150 will be paid only to those in receipt of Guarantee Credit or whether those claiming the Savings Credit (which allows people with a modest additional pension or savings to claim when they otherwise may not have been entitled) will also qualify, therefore opening it to more older people.

I look forward to the announcement on this next week and hope that it will be an entirely automatic payment, with no need for any forms, phone calls or other hoops to jump through.